


An Outrage In Vienna

by Wishfulthinks



Series: The Adler Women [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-13
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2017-12-29 07:25:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1002606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wishfulthinks/pseuds/Wishfulthinks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'An Outrage In Vienna' is the first instalment in a mini-series of mini-fics. It focuses on Sherlock Holmes meeting Miss Cienna Hall-Owen, a mysterious character working with Lestrade on a case Sherlock's been called to. Cienna outrages Holmes with her knowledge and astounds surrounding onlookers by matching Sherlock pace for pace. As events unfold how will the two progress, together? Or will they push each other into the depths of danger..?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Encounter

 

**Chapter 1 – The First Encounter.**

 

**Sherlock POV**

Walking up the stairs with my colleague, my flatmate and my best friend Dr John Watson laughing and joking was a regular occurrence. We were on our way to a crime scene again. The police called us when they were out of their depth, which was stupid, the police are always out of their depth… they might as well just have us on a permanent station. Anyway, we were walking up to the top of a block of flats when a female voice floated through the door.

“Dead man and woman, in their 20’s, probably romantically involved even though he’s been beating her up. The noose around the woman’s neck is all for show, she was strangled and then stabbed. He died from stab wounds into his abdomen. Self-inflicted? Possibly. Then there’s the window that was opened. Perhaps for someone they knew.”

My mouth dropped open. That voice, it sounded so familiar… Where did I know it from? John turned to look at me, shock plastered all over his face.

“She…she’s a female you!” He managed to stumble out before rushing up to the steps and into the room above. With a sigh I gave in to curiosity and followed him, coming face to face with a tall, elegant redhead wearing jeans and a black ‘military coat’ with her long hair tied up, presumably to stop it being whipped into her face in the harsh winds, the loose remains tucked behind her ears. Her eyes were surrounded by a dusky eyeliner, accented by a silver glow and her eyelashes curved up with a tint of blue, hiding the late nights she stayed awake. She reminded me of someone but I couldn’t work out whom…

“Whoa whoa whoa! Wait a minute! Where are you getting this all from?” Lestrade’s deep voice inquired.

“Well, on the inside of the woman’s ring it says ‘to Katy, love Kurt xx’. If I open the guy’s wallet his credit cards all say Kurt Tyler. Kurt and Katy were supposedly ‘in love’. However, the excessive make-up on her cheek suggests bruises that she didn’t want anyone to see. They were presenting a united front in public yet in private Kurt was whacking her about. Why are they presenting public unity? She’s pregnant perhaps or there’s been a recent family death, waiting for the right moment. The noose around her neck is too loose. It couldn’t have possibly strangled her but Kurt’s hands are about the right size to fit around her neck. Making this a murder/suicide. Or is it? The angles of these wounds are too severe to have been self inflicted. It’s an obvious conspiracy gone wrong. If the window was left open for someone else Kurt had planned to murder Katy and-”

“pass it off on some gang member who jumped into the flat when they turned on him and stabbing him to death…” The last words of her sentence left my mouth before I could stop them and the room turned to look at me.

“Ah, Mr Holmes. You’re late. We’ve been expecting you!” The mystery woman crossed her arms over her chest and smiled at me. It was as if she was attempting to read me.

“Who, may I ask, is the we you refer to?”

 

 

**Cienna POV**

A smile played across my lips. Holmes was here. Just as she wanted. It was all falling into place.

“We being Lestrade, Donovan, Anderson and myself!”

Turning back to the bodies off the two young people I suppressed a sigh. They were too young to die. What kind of an age is 21? Nothing… a drop in the ocean. They had their whole lives ahead of them. What a stupid man, I bet he never expected that to happen! An electrician apprentice, wire coating under his fingernails and an electric burn on one finger. I’m not surprised it all went wrong. I can’t see him being a man with a degree.

“I wasn’t exactly joyous at you arriving….” Anderson muttered. What an insolent man. I despised him and I’d only known him 5 minutes.

“Oh shut up Anderson!”

Was that? Did we? No, we can’t have done. Lestrade looked between Holmes and I baffled.

“Did you two just… say the same thing… at the same time?” He looked perplexed.

“No!”

There we go again! I glanced over at Holmes and saw him studying me so, straightening up, I turned to face him, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes?” I asked, trying to keep a face of innocence.

He sighed, starting to walk a circle around me.

“You intrigue me, I am sure I have never seen you before in my life yet I think I recognise you from somewhere. I can’t put my finger on it…” He put his hand over his mouth, his fingers stretching up round his face. “It’s obviously a woman you remind me of. Yet I know hardly any females. It’s not Molly, you’re too clever and it defiantly isn’t Donovan, you aren’t that insufferable. So who is it?!” He looked frustrated. Poor guy. I know who I remind him of, who I remind everyone of, yet I’m nothing like her… I’m a good girl… most of the time.

“Anyway, never mind, it’s not who you remind me of it’s who you are. So who are you? You stay up late, you come from a windy place, you like long hair but you hate it getting in your face, and you’re a perfectionist by the neatness of your clothes. Straight, down to the last badge. You studied at Cambridge, blue university ring on your necklace. Cambridge colours, maybe studied Physics? You play the piano, long fingers; some slightly bruised, descripts the attempted to play some wide apart chords and kept catching your fingers on the keys. You’ve been sat on a train for a couple of hours. Straight from Cardiff? You recently re-hemmed your coat. It’s precious to you, gift from a loved one? You don’t want to get rid of it so when it unexpectedly shrank, your flat-mate tumble dried it, you simply had it readjusted.” He’s good, very good, but not good enough… I smiled at him. I may as well play the game.

“I’m Cienna, Cienna Hall-Owen.” I was going to have to remember that. “Born in Wales, moved to Falkland Islands, moved back to Wales, very windy. I’m a night owl, I always have been and you’re right about the perfectionist thing! The Piano soothes my mind and helps me think. Perfect for the more… complex, mind.” A laugh escaped before I could stop it. Realistic? I think so. Convincing to Holmes? I’ll find out soon enough.

“Hmm. nice to meet you Cienna… Hall-Owen. I suppose you’re with the police?” He continued to walk a circle around me, slowly dragging his heels with each step.

I breathed a small sigh of relief. He seemed to have accepted my lies.

“Yeah, I’m here one, like, a transfer. I just got assigned to Lestrade’s division today.” I smiled sweetly at him; technically this bit was true… I just need to sweeten him up. After a brief hesitation he didn’t scowl back! He’s obviously deciding to at least try and be civil to me.

“Well, that makes one thing that’s Lestrade’s division” John chuckled lightly. Doctor John Watson, an interesting man. He genuinely seemed like a nice guy, you know the type, kind, quiet, funny and loyal. Yet he hung around with Holmes. He seemed to like the unsociable, sharp-tongued Sociopath… how unusual.

 

 

**Sherlock POV**

She continued to examine me. I should really at least try and give her a chance, after all, John will shout at me if I don’t.

“Are you wanting something?” I couldn’t hold out any longer. She turned and smiled, Resisting the urge to scowl I waited.

“Just trying to get a read of you…” This seemed to be funny to Lestrade.

“You, find something from Sherlock!? Please! No one can find anything from that man… he is unreadable… unbearable!”

She continued to smile.

“I wouldn’t say that. Far from it in fact. See here, His trousers have massive creases in them; they suggest he hasn’t been up long. Late riser? Maybe so, maybe he just went back to sleep after a late night of experimenting and was woken up to come here by Dr Watson, who has much lighter creases in his, suggesting he’s been up a while and gained these from sitting in a cab for half an hour, Kensington nice? I heard about the overturned bus. You started your journey around Baker Street. Not too sure with section but about the 200 mark. You have a housekeeper because even though neither of you iron, your trousers have recently had folds ironed into them and have been hung up neatly. Not quite your forte. The grease on your hands shows you play a stringed instrument, violin by the red depression under your left chin. You take good care of it and you play regularly. You cleaned the bow just before you left in a hurry; it’s starting to crust so I’d say that was about half an hour ago, ties in with the creases formed on John’s trousers. You’re right handed, or at least a right handed player. This could suggest you were awake but weren’t dressed appropriately -”

“Pah! Sherlock, dressed inappropriately… well that’s a first!” John sniggered. “ - to arrive at a crime scene. One last thing, you have plaster dust in his hair, but that, I have no idea about. New flat? Building work nearby?” She reeled off still staring into my face attracting open mouthed stares from the members around.

“Actually, he shot the wall…” John started to say before trailing off at my expression.

“Bored? Most probably. So Holmes, how close am I?” She leaned back against the door frame pushing her fringe that she intends to get cut out of her eyes.

Sighing I looked around the room before answering.

“We don’t have a housekeeper, Mrs Hudson is our Landlady, I’ve been awake since 3am, I  _always_  dress appropriat-”

“Since when did nothing but a sheet count as appropriate for Buckingham palace?” John snorted.

“Just a sheet…. No pants? Dear God freak that’s, that’s gross…” Donovan looked extremely sickened.

“-ely and I’ve lived in the same flat for almost 8 months now!” Ignoring all off the other comments I kept correcting her. The vile woman in the corner.

“Well… while we’re on the subjects of mistakes, I didn’t study at Cambridge, Cardiff was just a train change and the coat’s been re-hemmed more than once.” With a sweet smile she turned to walk out of the door. “Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday Mr Holmes!”

“I didn’t know it was your birthday…” John tried to supress a smirk. “Well, it looks like Sherlock’s finally met his match. Or at least one on the right side this time…”

I turned up my coat collar and stalked out of the door. Irene, Irene Adler.  _That_  was who she reminded me of. Hailing down a cab I supressed a scowl. Her real name definitely wasn’t Cienna Hall-Owen, she had been lying about most things. I absolutely loath her.

 


	2. Disagreements

**Chapter 2 - Disagreements**

 

**Cienna POV**

I was sat in the coffee shop on Baker street across from the flat, 221A, that I shared with my best friend in the entire world, Sian Laurie. I opposite Sian and Molly Hooper, one of the women Sian worked with in the morgue. Getting increasingly irritated with the former it was all I could do not to yell when I told her for the fifty fouth time.

“I am NOT in love with him!!” I protested as Sian giggled and Molly looked… well plain awkward.

“Yes you are! It’s obvious! You’re in love with him and he is so in love with you!” She giggled, sipping her coffee, giving her a temporary froth moustache until she licked it away.

“I don’t think he’s in love with her…” Molly barely whispered. Ahh. That was her problem, al-I mean infatuated with Holmes…

“Pah! Come off it! Of course he is! It’s obvi- Ooooh” Sian craned her neck to look out of the window at something and turning my neck I discovered she source of the staring walking through the door.

“Oh dear God…” I muttered as John and Holmes walked through the door.

“Alright ladies? Mind if we sit here?” John asked, rubbing his hands together and smiling at us all, his eyes lingering on Sian for a moment longer then normal.

“Oh God no John I’m not sitting here!” Holmes exclaimed, walking towards the door. “I need a cigarette….”

“Sherlock! I thought we agreed you were doing well!” John protested as the door slammed shut behind Holmes. John let out a sigh. “Drinks anyone?”

“Yes please!” Sian exclaimed holding her cup up. “double chocolate Mocha please! Thank you!”

After drinks had been sorted and everyone had settled down (John and Sian sat too close for my liking) a conversation was struck up, Holmes still sulking outside.

“So, how long have you two ladies been in the area?” John asked, directing the question to me and Sian.

“Oh, only about a week… it’s been a week right C?” Sian replied before turning to grin at me, giving me ‘the look’. Oh dear God… Before I could be dragged into any more soppy conversation I stood up and left the shop, crashing into Holmes as he came to enter through the door.

“Oh… it’s you…” He muttered before squeezing past me into the shop.

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you!” I called “John’s making a fool out of himself…” This made Holmes turn around and almost smile at me.

“Well that makes a change…”

 

**Sherlock PoV**

The door to the 221 building slammed behind me, the latch clicking into place, and I began to ascend the stairs with a small sigh. It had been a long day at work. Lots of testing, lots of stupid people to prove wrong, ect. Ect.

Unlocking the door to 221B I found it oddly quiet. John was missing from his chair. He’d come in, I could tell, his shoes were by the door. Along with a woman’s pair. She had small feet, size 4? Quite short, maybe only about 5’2” if that.

Walking deeper into the room I could hear a commotion coming from John’s room. I pushed open the door and my mouth dropped open in shock. Was that? It can’t be? It looked like Cienna… with John… doing… THAT? Oh dear God no… I quickly backed out of the room shutting the door silently and stormed out of the building in rage. How… how DARE he!! He has no right to… Why am I so upset by this? Why does seeing John with Cienna bug me?

I sighed and kicked the wall in frustration. This can’t be happening… things like this don’t happen to men like me…My breath fogged out in front of me in the rapidly chilling air as I turned my head to the sky. God this felt weird… I knew there was a reason I hated emotions, caring doesn’t help… I knew that, why do I care?

20 minutes later, with a cry of frustration, my steps were retraced, taking me to the roof of the flat. The roof of the flat where I came face to face with a certain infuriating red-head.

I leaned against the air vent opposite her. “So, John’s bed comfy?” I spat out slightly more venomously then intended.

“Excuse me? How the hell would I know if John’s bed was comfy?” She crossed her arms over her chest, the moonlight shini- Why am I watching what the moonlight’s doing to Cienna?

“Well… you looked comfy enough in it when you were having sex with John” Her eyes widened slightly before narrowing to slits.

“I was not having sex with John!!”

“Yes you were! I saw you!”

“I was not! And even if I was, it’s my choice to make about who I sleep with!” Her tone sounded defensive.

“So you were!”

“No I was not!! Why would you care anyway?” She shot back, leaning against the wall she was sat near.

“I knew it was you!” Turning away I walked back towards the stairs to go back to my flat, tired of having this disagreement.

“Stop avoiding the question!” She shouted after me. “Why do you care?”

At this I turned around, my fists clentched. "Oh maybe because John is my friend!I care about him!"

"You don't have friends Holmes... We all know that..."

"What do you know Hall-Owen, or should I say Miss Adler?" Her face dropped open in a gasp. "Yes that's right, I know who you are, the face shape, the way you hold yourself. Exactly the same... you're closely related to Irene, and the minimal age gap only suggests sisters!" I spat, finally putting all the pieces together in my anger.

Her face contorted in even more shock for a second before her composure returned.

“There is a reason why I don’t call myself Adler anymore.. I disowned the name and everything related to it.” She shot back coldly.

“Hmm, interesting… You claim that you don’t want anything to do with your family, yet I know for a fact that Irene’s been texting you… Multiple times. In fact…” I paused for a second. “She just sent you another now.”

Cienna pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the text before locking it again and standing up.

“She sends her best to you Holes… although I don’t see why it’s any of your business…” flipping her hair in annoyance she took a step closer.

I slowly closed the space between us with another step.

“I care because where the Adler’s are concerned, there is always trouble.” I muttered before jolting backwards as Cienna’s hand collided at full force with my face, forcing my face into an expression of disbelief.

“Don’t you dare speak about me or my family like that Holmes! Not all of us followed in the footsteps of my darling sister…”

I brought my hand up to the red mark on my face as she pushed me lightly, causing a small step back necessary to regain my balance.

“You aren’t everything you think you are Holmes. You think you’re so great and clever and unique. Well you’re not!” She ranted, stepping onto a coil of rope as she went to shove me again. Catching her hands I pushed her away harshly and watched as she started to fall sideways, over the edge of the building, her foot slipping into a loop in the rope. Suddenly I pitched forwards as her hand grabbed my arm and I went plummeting over the edge after her.

 

**Cienna PoV**

The fall of the building was exhilarating, truly. When I’d set up the rope for bungee jumping I’d never expected it to work so well. I jolted to a stop outside the window of 221B after the loop tightened around my ankle, almost cutting off the whole blood supply to my foot and I hung there awkwardly. Sherlock dangled below my arm after his decent came to a halt, wrenching my shoulder out in the process. With a wince I opened my mouth to speak.

“Ow… This is all your fault Holmes…”

He scoffed.

“My fault! How is this _my_ fault? You were the one sat on the roof, after  _womanising_ my  _best friend_! Then _you_ pulled me off the roof after you tripped over some rope!” He exclaimed, held up only by the tight grip my hand held on his wrist. I grabbed his wrist with my other hand, switching his weight onto my other shoulder, letting the jarred muscles relax. Then with a sigh I rolled my eyes.

“For the love of God Holmes I was not in bed with John! I have no romanixal interest in him at all! Why won’t you believe me?”

He raised an eyebrow looking up at me, trying to move my hair out of his face.

“Romanixal?”

“Romantic or sexual!” I sighed and shook my head, freeing my hair from any other human’s limbs, the blood starting to rush to my face. Looking down I could see a crowd had started to gather to watch out escapades.

“We have an audience” I murmured down, seeing Holmes glaring at me. “What? What did I do? You were the one that pushed me over the edge! In more ways than one!” I exclaimed, waving my other arm in frustration as a police car drove onto the street, it’s lights and siren blazing.

“Oh God… I bet you that’s Lestrade…” He sighed and ignored my question. Above me I could feel the rope starting to fall apart.

“Um Sherlock… We have just a  _slight_  problem…”

Before he could look up the rope snapped and sent us both free falling towards the ground, smacking into the police car below, which had luckily just been vacated. They stared open mouthed at us before grabbing their handcuffs.  
“I think you both should come in with us”

 

**Cienna PoV**

“Right you two, I don’t like getting a phone call at 4 in the morning telling me two of my people have been arrested for causing a disturbance. So explain. Now.” Lestrade stated, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at Holmes, visibly annoyed. The detective sighed.

“Well, Cienna and I came to a slight disagreement on the roof…”

“Disagreement?! You accused me of sleeping with John! Which, I might add, I most certainly did not do!” I scoffed from beside the window turning my chest away from breathing in the fresh air from the outside world beyond the bars.

“Oh you so did. It was you! A 5’2” woman with size 4 feet!” He exclaimed, sighing in exasperation.  
I turned away from the source of clean air fully and glared at Holmes.

“One, I’m 5’6”. Two, I have size 7 feet and three, I’ve already told you. I did not sleep with John!” I exclaimed, furrowing my brow in annoyance. Sherlock’s annoyed face dropped. 

“But, it was you... I saw you...” my face softened slightly along with my tone. 

“It wasn’t me Holmes, you’re seeing things...”

“I don’t see things Adler!” He scorned, turning his back to me. Before I could open my mouth to respond Lestrade cut in.

“Right... well I can see this is something the both of you have to sort out so... I’ll be back in an hour to let you both free. Sort this.” He looked at both of us with great seriousness before turning on his heel and walking off down the corridor, neither Holmes nor I really paying attention, too involved in our discussion. 

“So... do you believe me? I really didn’t sleep with John... I-I thought you’d know I wouldn’t do that...” I murmured softly. “I-I mean... it’s against the girl code...” I added afterwards, looking up to break the look passing between us and gripping my hands together.

“I...I believe you. I’m sorry for snapping at you...” he susurrated, smiling softly across at me. 

“Oh it’s no problem. I’d have done the same to you if I thought you’d been with Sian... Oooh... it was Sian John was with...” I exclaimed, looking at Holmes with a smile. 

"Oh... that makes sense...” he smiled softly. “And I would never have gone anywhere near Sian...” He drifted off into an awkward silence, wondering whether to finish his train of thought. 

“Well I-!” 

“I just want-!” We both started to say at once, stopping to look at each other in embarrassment. 

“You speak, you were speaking first.” I smiled, feeling my face flushing with colour. 

“Well, I just couldn’t go anywhere near Sian, It might hu-“ He started to say before their conversation was disturbed by a massive explosion tearing through the outer walls of the cells.

*

Dust and bits of brick flew through the air as I looked up at Sherlock as we blinked at each other in shock for a multitude of moments.

“Cienna, are you alright?” He called across to me, shaking some of the plaster out of his hair.

“Yeah... I'm fine... are you?” I coughed, starting to sit up through the debris as a groip of men bressed in black burst through the newly made hole in the wall.

“You have one of our people...” the man closest to us drawled, with a slight Itallian twang to his tone, taking a few slow, deliberate steps towards us. “And we, want him back. SO you can either help us, or we kill you. So start talking.”

“One of your people? The same person who killed Kurt Taylor? That person? Or someone else? Are you going to deny that someone hired you to take the blame for killing his girlfriend or what?” I murmured quickly, looking the man straight in the eye. “I know who you are.”

“I don’t like your tone of voice  _donna_ ” he drawled. “People don’t speak to  _me_  like that.”

“Oh yeah? So what you gonna do about it then?” I exclaimed, throwing my arms out to the side and subconsciously embracing my inner chav. Or Italian, I’ve learned the two are remarkably similar.

Everything changed. The next thing I knew I was being dragged out of the cell, a knife held to my throat with Sherlock’s loud cry of “Cienna!” piercing my heart like a shard of ice. Twisting round to my left I tugged down at the hand holding the knife and grabbing hold of two fingers in each hand I yanked them in different direction directions, hearing a satisfying crack and yowl of pain as the man dropped to the floor, clutching his broken hand as I put my foot onto his shoulder, pinning him to the ground as I brought all my weight and strength down through my heel and onto his nose Raising my head all I saw was chaos. Inside the building all that could be heard was the wail of alarms, sounds of pain the only thing audible above the shrieking. I saw Sherlock sprinting out of the destruction and felt him grab my hand.

“Run!” he exclaimed, pulling me along with him and out of the remains of our smouldering cell wall and into the dark London night. After about 15 minutes of sprinting we found an abandoned alley and skidded to a halt, our panting breaths in synchronisation with the sirens that could no doubt be heard throughout the city.

“Wh-what now?” I gasped, a shaky hand clutching my side as I waited for the lactic acid to disperse.

“Simple, we go to Vienna. We need to stop this...” he trailed off, his breath bated with the promise of unspoken words. “Cienna, you shouldn’t have wound him up.” Holmes murmured, slowly moving closer towards me. “These aren’t the kind of people who let you get away with that.”

“What else was I supposed to do Holmes?! You weren’t exactly helping much!” I snapped, completely forgetting about out short spell of friendship.

In that instant I saw his eyes start to frost over again as he pushed past me to leave the alley. Without even realising I’d ruined perhaps the only chance at friendship we might ever get.

*


	3. The Italian City

Cienna PoV  
“When is their flight due in?” Holmes mused into the frosty air between us.  
“Check the bloody board yourself!” I replied, taking a sip of my coffee and smoothing the hair of my wig out. The disguises annoyed me but we couldn’t afford to be spotted by the wrong people just yet. The airport rush hour bustled around us.  
“How do we know they even got on the plane anyway Adler?” Holmes looked intrigued in the paper he was pretending to read.  
“I checked the flight manifest... they checked in and got on the plane Holmes, that’s how I know.” Before he could open his mouth to answer a tannoy came across, announcing the arrival of flight 218 from London Heathrow. Picking up my coffee I stood up and straightened my coat. “If you need me I’ll be stood by arrivals.” I stated curtly before turning on my heel, walking in the direction of the arrivals gate.  
20 minutes later I was holding up a sign for Sian and John as the rest of their flight started to walk out from customs.  
John looked slightly puzzled as he spotted the card with his name on whilst Sian confidently powered up to me, dropping her voice to the quietest, almost silent, murmer.  
“Cienna?” I nodded my head very slightly before putting on an extremely heavy Italian accent as John approached.  
“Sian Laurie? John Watson?” Sian smiled brightly, her eyes expressing her true anger.  
“Both present and correct!” She took John’s arm and followed me outside of the airport to where Holmes was waiting with a taxi we had ‘liberated’ from the streets of Vienna when it’s owner had been looking the other way.  
“Your driver.” I gestured to Holmes with a fake smile, holding the doors open for Sian and John before climbing into the passenger seat.  
“Uh- where are we going?” John queried before Sian shushed him and whispered something to him, causing his eyes to widen in surprise.  
“Sherlock? Cienna?” 

John PoV  
We drove to the hotel in silence after Sherlock promised he would tell us everything when we arrived, claiming that the streets weren’t a safe place to explain. 20 minutes later we were sat in a hotel room, opposite Cienna and Sherlock, who were both starting to get out of their disguises, pulling wigs and fat padding off of themselves.  
“Explain. Now.” I stated, crossing my arms over my chest and staring at Sherlock, visibly annoyed. The detective sighed.  
“Well, Cienna and I came to a slight disagreement on the roof…”  
“Disagreement?! You accused me of sleeping with John! Which, I might add, I most certainly did not do!” Cienna scoffed from beside the window turning her chest away from looking out of the window at the street below.  
In the seat next to me Sian blushed and looked down at the ground. I could feel my face growing warm in synchronisation.  
“Oh you so did. It was you! A 5’2” woman with size 4 feet!” He exclaimed, sighing in exasperation.  
Cienna turned away from watching a Toyota battle the streets.  
“One, I’m 5’6”. Two, I have size 7 feet and three, I’ve already told you. I did not sleep with John!” She exclaimed, furrowing her brow in annoyance. Sherlock’s annoyed face dropped.  
“But, it was you... I saw you...” Cienna’s face softened slightly along with her tone.  
“It wasn’t me Holmes, you’re seeing things...”  
“I don’t see things Adler!” He scorned, turning his back to Cienna. Before she could open her mouth to respond I cut in.  
“Ladies, please. What’s this about Adler and why are we in Vienna?!” Sherlock sighed again.  
“Cienna is out dear friend Irene Adler’s sister, just a little bit of family history she forgot to mention to us...”  
“I already told you! There’s a reason why I don’t call respond to Cienna Adler anymore! I despise my family! I always have done and I always will! I admonish their actions, especially Irene’s!” She exclaimed, already back to looking out of the window.  
“Anyway! Why are we in Vienna?” I piped up, trying to avoid another disagreement.  
“Well, we were disagreeing on the roof and then Cienna fell and pulled me off the roof with her.”  
“You pushed me!”  
“I did not! And stop interrupting. Then the rope that was holding us up snapped and we fell onto the police car below, resulting in them attempting to arrest us…”  
“Which was when you shot them?” Sian imputed for the first time, raising an eyebrow as she spoke. Cienna turned to stare at her friend.  
“What?! No! We didn’t shoot anyone! They got shot and then these mafia members appeared and tried to kidnap us, claiming that the British police would pay a lot of money for us which we all know is complete crap because the police hate the both of us! We’re simply a convenience to them. Anyway, they tried to kidnap us, we did our thing, escaped and then ran. Afterwards I came back and left the clue for you Sian, along with the plane tickets Holmes had just brought, grabbed two fake passports from the draw and then flew here, waiting for you two to turn up.” She attempted to smile, leaning back against the window seat she was sat on.  
“Right, so you and Sherlock were almost kidnapped by the Italian Mafia?” I raised an eyebrow and looked across at Sian.  
“Yes, we were. Do you have a problem with Adler’s story?” Sherlock mused, his hands clasped together in front of his face, a sign he was deep in thought.  
“No, no, just… find it interesting that it’s always you Sherlock...” Chuckling lightly I stood up. “So what’s the plan?” Cienna smiled wickedly to herself.  
“We gate-crash the boss’s daughter’s birthday ball.”  
“We what?!” Sian exclaimed. “I thought you had more sense! And why don’t you trust me Cienna?!” Cienna looked confused.  
“I do trust you Sian, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  
“Well if you trust me, then why did you never tell me your legal surname was Adler?! Or that you’d at least changed your name?” With a sigh I got up and left the room, leaving Sian and Cienna arguing and Sherlock deep in thought.  
After making my way down to the lobby I picked up a pay phone and dialled the number I was after.  
Hello? John Watson speaking.” After a pause someone responded on the line. “I’d like to speak to DI Lestrade please.”

Cienna PoV  
With a sigh I leaned back against the wall, sat on the window seat of the hotel room I was currently alone in. Turning my head to the side I looked out of the window at the street below when there was a knock on the door.  
“Cienna? May I come in?” Holmes’ voice carried in from outside the door.  
“Sure, whatever, come in.” I sighed, it was evidently irritate Cienna day. The door shut with a snap.  
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry... I was wrong to accuse you.” Holmes stood awkwardly by the door. “I guess I... overreacted slightly. Anyway, I can see now that I was... wrong...”  
“But sorry doesn’t quite make it all better Holmes! My best friend refuses to talk to me after you told her something you never let me fully explain to either of you and you expect that all of us here in Vienna, arguing between ourselves, will be solved with a simple sorry?! If you hadn’t have jumped to conclusions then we wouldn’t even have to be here in Italy!” Holmes sighed.  
“Cienna... please... I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen...”  
“But that’s the point Holmes! You don’t mean, you just do things. You say you’re smart but you never think! You don’t think before you do anything!” I yelled. Feeling a sense of Déjà vu I turned my body round to jump off the window seat and stalked across the room to him, reaching my arm up to slap him. Before my hand could come into contact with his face for the second time in 24 hours he caught hold of my un-slinged wrist, bringing it up in front of my face.  
“Now now Adler... don’t want to let that temper run away with you now do you?” He murmured, leaning his head closer to my ear.  
Before I could say anything the door burst open and Lestrade walked in, looking behind his shoulder.  
“Shelock, Cienna, we need to talk to you both abo-... Oh!” Lestrade looked up and stopped in his tracks, clearing his throat with an amused smile on his face. “Well, when you two are finished we’ll be next door.” As he turned to walk out of the door Holmes released my wrists and caught the door before it could shut, exiting through it.  
I followed them both down the corridor and into a conference room that had been leased out to us along with the whole of this floor.  
“So, what’s the plan of action?” A young task force officer by the name of Ashley Dunlop asked from the head of the table.  
“We acquire 11 tickets to the ball, we get in, take down the boss resulting in us solving the case!” I walked over to him, explaining the idea as simply as possible.  
“I see... So how do we take down the mafia then?” He raised an eyebrow, turning to look at me.  
“Well, that is something that we plan when we get in there!” I smiled at him.  
“So... We get in there...”  
“And then we just wing it. Correct. You’re shockingly young for the head of a special task force aren’t you?”  
Ashley chuckled lightly. “It’s not about the age... it’s about the experience... Christ knows I’ve had enough of that!” We both laughed as I looked down over his shoulder at the files that were laying on the table.  
“Ooooh! Files!” I snaked my arm round and picked one up, starting to leaf through it.  
“They aren’t anything you’d be interested in... They aren’t case files!” He smiled, looking up at the rest of the force talking between themselves around the room. Following his gaze I could see Holmes staring at me with John and Lestrade trying to attract his attention, laughing at his obliviousness.  
"I'm not just interested in case files! Some other things in life interest me." I teased, reading through the personal files of the team. "Take people for example, people are interesting."  
Ashley smirked slightly. "Oh we can all see that!" he tried to contain a laugh. I put down the file confused.  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
Ashley laughed again. “Well you and Sherlock are pretty close...” By now most of the task force had turned to watch our conversation, giggling to themselves. Even Lestrade and John had stopped trying to divert Holmes’ attention and were grinning away.  
“Oh dear God... There is nothing going on between Holmes and I, I can’t even stand the man!”  
“Well hate is supposed to be a sign of love...”  
“I am not in love with him! Honestly, people these days!” Sighing in irritation I stalked out of the room and down the hall, slamming the door to my room before sliding down said door to slump on the floor. Then the tears started to fall. For the first time since that night, almost 8 years ago, I sat there and cried. I sat there and cried for everything, completely oblivious to the Holmes brother stood in the corridor, silently watching my door from down the hall.

Sherlock PoV  
Looking in the mirror I adjusted my bow tie and sighed. Turning away I walked across the room to where John was still working on his getting his suit into place.  
“I don’t even get why we have to dress up...” He grumbled, looking irritable.  
“We’re dressed up because you can’t fit in at a ball without being dressed up!” I sighed, continuing to walk across the room towards the door.  
After exiting the room I kept walking towards Lestrade and his team, all dressed up in similar attire. “Who are we waiting for now?” I murmured, twisting a cufflink into my sleeves. God I missed my buttons.  
“Just Cienna and Sian now...” John followed me out of the room, looking slightly nervous. Probably thinking about the plan we were following, the superb ‘wing it’ philosophy. Or the fact that this would be his first proper date with Sian. That might make him nervous as well.  
“Well, I wish they’d hurry up. I would quite like to get star-...”  
“Aright, Alright! Cool it down! We’re here now! Let’s go!” Adler walked out from her room visibly irritated, her arm held in place with a brand new, bright white sling, followed closely by Sian who looked rather pleased with herself. They looked reasonable. More than reasonable. I might even go as far to say that Adler looked good, green was a good colour for her... Not that it mattered. Why did it matter? Why am I even thinking this? Time to move on.  
“Finally, let us depart.” Pushing past the other members of our party I emerged into the cool night air, sighing slightly and tapping my foot as I waited silently.  
“Right, pair up everyone! We have to at least arrive right...” Lestrade ushered everyone else outside into the street, just as the first snowflake started to fall. Somehow when I looked around everyone was already in a pair, male to female, except Adler and myself. With a sigh I walked over to her and held out an arm.  
“Come on Adler, looks like we’re stuck with each other for a little while longer.” She sighed at this, rolling her eyes as she took my arm, putting on a fake smile to prepare herself for the role she was going to have to play during the night ahead.  
“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to call me Cienna, Holmes...” We began the short walk to our destination, the grandest ballroom in Vienna.  
“I’ll stop calling you Adler when you start calling me Sherlock...”  
“Well then, you better hope I never marry...” she smiled slightly, lapsing into silence for the rest of the journey.  
As we waited outside the door to be granted entrance I felt a shiver running through my arm, its origin the woman I was still linking arms with. Keeping my head fixed on the door I murmured across.  
“Cold, or nervous?”  
“Cold... it’s snowing for God’s sake!” Looking about I could see she wasn’t the only one feeling the chill. Sian had John’s jacket over her shoulders, still shivering from the cold enforced on her legs by the thigh length dress she was wearing. A few of the other women in the group had their own coats on whilst some of the male members had followed John’s example and given up their own jackets to their partners for the evening.  
“Where’s your coat?”  
“Back in London, I didn’t have time to pick it up... and neither did you, remember?” She sighed, moving her arms around in an attempt to warm them up. She was wearing a floor length dress so at least she didn’t have cold legs... Oh, I appeared to have thought aloud at this moment because Adler turned to glare at me.  
“At least I haven’t got cold legs... you try exposing half the flesh I am... it’s like -20c!” She exclaimed, attracting amused glances from the rest of our party until a uniformed man arrived and stated that it was time to come inside.

*

Walking through the crowds of people with Cienna still hanging onto my arm, laughing and joking, still acting her part of my partner for the evening I couldn’t help but smile. It all seemed to be going to plan so far.  
Looking around I pressed a hand against her lower back, leaning down to mutter.  
            “I’m going to go look around... you stay here... I won’t be long.” She nodded and smiled, turning away from the people we were currently talking to, keeping her voice at an audible tone.  
            “A drink would be great thanks!”  
            Walking away I looked around, trying to identify where the members of our team were positioning themselves, searching for our targets. Turning my head I spotted two men walking with a purpose towards the centre of the room, either extremely happy to see each other or both carrying Benelli B76s in their pockets. Slowly I started to push my way through the crowds, keeping my eye on the men as they skulked towards a door on the outside of the room. After looking over my shoulder I followed them through the door, stepping back into the shadows as they clomped their way up the stairs, calling out to someone above in Italian.  
          “Lui è qui. Con la donna!” (He’s here. With the woman.)  
“La donna?” (The Woman?)  
“Sì! La donna!” (Yes! The woman!)  
“Quale donna?” (Which woman?)  
“La donna donna!” (The woman woman!)  
“Oh, quella donna... Uccideteli entrambi.” (Oh, that woman... kill them both.)  
I don’t speak Italian, therefore I have no idea what’s happening. God I hate the language barrier. Stepping put from the shadows I cleared my throat, walking into the room so my back is to the indoor balcony that overlooked the main ballroom.  
“Remember me? We had an interesting first meeting...” The three men in the room looked shocked at my surprise entrance.  
“E Lui! Come ha Fatto ad arrivare qui?” (It’s him! How did you get here?) The man sat at the desk exclaimed as his two henchmen style assisstants started to walk towards me. Backing away from them I walked into the edge of the balcony and rested my hand against the top.  
“Can we not just talk this out?” I suggested as the other man stood up and pulled out a gun, swiftly shooting me twice in the chest.  
The force from the bullets pushed me over the edge of the stone and I began a free-fall decent towards the floor below, screams echoing around the room.  
With a jolt I hit the floor and was imminently engulfed in a wave of absolute agony. The room spun, my hearing came and went and the left side of my chest screamed in pain. How ironic, the screams matched, they almost sounded like my name. Wait. That sounded like Cienna.  
“Sherlock! SHERLOCK!” She screamed, running up to me and pushing people out of the way to lean over me.  
“Oh God Sherlock... there’s so much blood...” She murmured, pressing both her hands against my chest. I could feel my blood seeping through the gaps between her fingers.  
“Cienna... I think we’re in trouble...”  
“Sherlock, you’re laying on the floor with two bullets in your chest, if that isn't trouble I don’t know what is!” she laughed nervously, biting her lip as she looked up. “Where the fuck’s John? You need a doctor or you’re going to die.”  
“I thought you wouldn't care if I died...”  
“I care very much whether you live or die...” She sighed, tearing her gaze upwards from my face as John and Lestrade burst into the circle of people surrounding us.  
“Hmm... interesting...” My voice had started to weaken and a black haze started to cover the edge of my vision, my breath coming quicker and shallower as Cienna leant over my face, the pressure she was putting on my wound increasing rapidly.  
“Sherlock, Sherlock! Stay with me!” her voice also started to fade, the panic intensity only increasing as I faded down into the blackness, the pain evaporating along with reality.


End file.
